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Early Access??
Grundvig
Member
Stephen lets get on the stick and follow Larian's lead of 3yrs early access and getting solid feedback on the whole game?
BG3 is a solid game after all that imput from players playing the game? And their passion I can see is just like your passion for gaming.
It isn't perfect and far from it, but actually launching the game for early access gave them great feedback you can't get just from testing like you have so far.
"YOU CAN DO IT." from the famous pep talk given to Nadia Comaneci. You to Stephen can just do it?
BG3 is a solid game after all that imput from players playing the game? And their passion I can see is just like your passion for gaming.
It isn't perfect and far from it, but actually launching the game for early access gave them great feedback you can't get just from testing like you have so far.
"YOU CAN DO IT." from the famous pep talk given to Nadia Comaneci. You to Stephen can just do it?
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Comments
yes
Gould be the same.
But the question is, should we push to get it fast, incomplete and with bugs or we want it polished?
What Steven wants?
This is a paradox.
People are impatient and want early access.
Publishers understand customers wants stuff early, and sell early access for a premium. People flock to premium early access. Publishers take note, cut games development cost in half, sell early access where they would previously sell a complete game, for triple the consumer price at half the development cost, let the product age badly in perpetual early access, only to sell parts of what was the original scope in an expansion for a premium.
People want a complete game.
Game development studios create a complete game, but unforseen problems arise, delays ensue, and the public is in uproar over the pushed deadlines and setbacks.
People want a complete game early, built with new technology. Sigh.
Why do people want early access?
To test?
To provide feedback?
To look for bugs and report?
To develop the speediest path to levelcap?
To look for exploits, keep them secret, and use post launch?
Will the end product be better of for it?
Star Citizen has provided a playable game version (ish), but go into detail explaining the challenges of running a live game while at the same time developing said game. Has Star Citizen become better because of the feedback? Sure, in most if not all areas of the game. Has the game been further delayed because of it? Absolutely.
While Ashes of Creation only share a few similarities with Star Citizen (massive multiplayer online game, network handling, large numbers of players in same area), the MMORPG genre is less prone to failures, and thus less benefitial of an early and ongoing test phase, when compared to Star Citizens open world sandbox spaceship simulator and FPS MMO game, with server meshing, individual and dynamic physics grids, planet tech etc.
Personally, I just want to explore Verra, the class systems, races, nodes, mobs, combat, sieges, and everything inbetween as soon as possible - and at the same time I want IS to take the time needed to bake the game to epic standards.
Can't have it both ways though. So what is more important?
Quality. For sure.
Intrepid has no room for error, having sold early access packs at high prices. A buggy, almost unplayable early access would open the door to a barrage of criticism from some gamers and the gaming press.
It could be a very bad marketing operation, so it's best that Alpha 2 (early access) is sufficiently elaborate to avoid a deluge.
Early access isn't just about taking the game on the road and trying it out. You need to supervise players, organize the collection of data and feedback, set up processes that take into account open tickets, have a solid communications team, etc. etc.
In the end, early access has positive effects, as the game will be scrutinized by thousands of players. On the other hand, it adds a lot of work to the development team.
They all do it for money.
To be fair, Ashes does seem like a passion project. Sure, they're not going to want to make a loss and will be looking to make a profit, but it does seem like they're all just really excited to make an awesome game. And I love that.
Don't underestimate the commercial objective of a man who seems above all a good businessman before being a gamer.
I'm not sure if anyone can make a qualified judgement of whether Steven is "above all a good businessman" or a gamer. A game certainly can be a profit oriented endeavor, but just as equally he could just be a rich guy willing to spend any amount of money to create a fun game for himself and niche of people, far from any triple A game success. As far as we know he is not depending on the commercial success of Ashes. Just like Post Malones Lifestyle did not suffer from him buying the one "One Ring" for 2.5 million $.
For now and with the decisions made so far, I think there is no way to tell either way. And everyone on the fence may just as well withhold sending money Intrepids way until the intent becomes clearer.
I also think passion is needed to make a good game. Just listening to others, the one making decisions might not feel what the suggestions want to achieve and the game can end mediocre.
But Steven seems to care what influencers think too.
Might be that his strategy is to carve a niche for specific players. The PvX ones
Sometimes things align and dont contradict each other, this seems like one of those cases. Making the game you always wanted and making lots of money? Talk about incentive.
I think in case of AoC there is a compromise to be made.
We're just as excited if not more so, to hop into Verra and play with the community! We're working hard to get the game into a state we're proud of so that we can play with everyone as soon as it's ready!